How do flight/training hours work?

Several other topics have touched on this, but I am coming into this with no flying experience at all. Aviation is a whole new world for me and after looking into it, I am still confused on the hours. Specifically: the 1500 hour requirement to get hired with airlines. Does every hour you log from the start of your training count towards these 1500 hours, or are they 1500 hours in a specific kind of aircraft or something? And how many hours towards the 1500 can you expect to have upon completion of ATP’s 9 month program? (I realize the hours may fluctuate with the location, specific student, weather, etc., but I just mean approximately…)

Trey,

Great question. Yes EVERY hour you fly counts towards the 1500 so if you’ve taken (or will take) an intro flight or lesson you can/should log it!

You’ll complete the Career Pilot Program with approx 250hrs. The most common way most build the rest is by flight instructing.

Adam

Trey,

Your question is a very valid one. Yes, every hour of time you spend in an airplane flying it counts towards your 1,500 hours. So all of the time you are being instructed, all of the time you are solo, flying your fiends, or instructing a student count. To clarify a point here, when a student is receiving instruction, both the student and the instructor log the flight time.

You will finish the program with roughly 250 hours of logged flight time. The vast majority of pilots build their remaining time via flight instructing, but there are other ways such as banner towing, sight seeing tours, etc.

Chris

Trey,

Every hour you log with an instructor via instruction received is credible and logable (or solo flight or certificated). This means when you go for your Admissions Flight (or Introductory Lesson), it’s logable! If you were to enroll into ATP’s program today, you would receive a total of 214 hours single-engine, 25 hours multi-engine that is categorized as airplane. Furthermore, you’ll receive 54 hours of simulator time (different than an airline simulator or FFS under regulations).

Brady